The Damsel in Distress has just been rescued from the Big Bad by the hero. How can she show her gratitude? Have sex with him, that's how. If she's ended up in a Go-Go Enslavement outfit, so much the better for all parties.

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Examples:

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Anime and Manga

In Kaze no Stigma, Kazuma actually suggests this to a girl once. Admittedly, at that point, he's shrugged off several assassination-attempts from her, convinced her family not to have her killed due to the dishonor she's brought on them, forgiven her for killing several hundred innocent people in an attempt to kill him, and finally managed to find a way to knock her out of her One-Winged Angel state without having to kill her in the process. She joins a convent with remarkable speed at that point.

Comic Books

Haagse Harry suggested it once after defending a woman's honor from some unruly Morroccans. She accepts, on the condition that he goes shopping for clothes with her and takes her out for dinner first.

Harry: All women are hookers. Those who do it for money are the cheapest.

In Sin City, Hartigan turned down such an offer from Nancy, as he viewed her as a surrogate daughter. (By the way, this was after he spent eight years in prison after being framed for rape, due to the rescue in question.)

Defied in Walking in the Shadows as Xander refuses to have sex with someone right after saving their life, believing it feels forced and wanting to avoid hard feelings if it's merely the adrenaline at play. Later subverted as he almost has sex with Tara but they don't go all the way and it's made clear afterwards that Tara isn't truly attracted to him, being a lesbian.

In "Wise Ancestors", Zelda spends the night with Link after he kills Ganondorf and frees her from captivity. Of course, this is partly because of the princess following her ancestors' advice to give herself to the hero of destiny.

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Natalya's reaction when Bond saves her from the exploding train in Goldeneye probably qualifies, though Bond does have to kiss her after her "it's what keeps you alone" speech.

In Van Helsing, Friar Carl rescues a townswoman from getting seriously injured by making a diving catch as she falls. She is grateful, but seems disappointed that her damn lucky rescuer is a man of the cloth. He is happy to assure her that he's a friar, not a monk. She smiles. NEXT SCENE!

Subverted in the opening scene of Machete. The title character rescues a female kidnap victim who turns out to be jaw-droppingly attractive, totally naked, and eager to reward her rescuer, while Machete is only interested in saving her. For his trouble she stabs him with his own machete as it's all a trap by the Big Bad.

Barbarella does this three times over the course of a single movie. The third time around the guy in question rescues her purely because he wants to boink her.

A variation is played for laughs in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective where Ace gets this from a busty, immodestly dressed client for rescuing her dog.

The Transporter. Frank reluctantly rescues Lai, then mooks come to his house with a rocket launcher and blow it up, only for Frank to escape with her by swimming through a tunnel to the sea. Frank is ranting over how he should never have become involved in the first place when Lai strips off her wet clothes.

Frank: What are you doing? Lai: Making up for the trouble.

Sin City. John Hartigan saves eleven year-old Nancy Callahan from a pedophile rapist, and finds She Is All Grown Up as a beautiful 19 year-old erotic dancer by the time he gets out of prison. Nancy tells Hartigan that though she's tried to love other men, she's always been in love with him, and earnestly encourages Hartigan to sleep with her after she saves her yet again. Hartigan, who's spent his entire imprisonment thinking of her as a surrogate daughter, turns down her offer. And then takes a cold shower.

In Kingsman: The Secret Service, Eggsy is rewarded with rescue anal sex by a captured Swedish princess after stopping Valentine. The funniest part is that he only askedfor a kiss; the princess was the one to offer sex for rescuing her before upgrading to offering anal if he saved the world.

Hilariously enough, it actually develops into an real relationship in Kingsman: The Golden Circle, culminating in Eggsy and Tilde (the princess) getting married.

Spoofed in Baywatch (2017), where the handsome lifeguard responds by throwing the grateful beauty overboard instead. He's kinda busy, what with the boat being on fire and all.

Offered and rejected in Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto. Oko is very turned on by watching Takezo fight off a half-dozen bandits single-handed and save her treasure box. She straight up says "Take me, Takezo!" and goes on to say that he can do anything he wants with her. But he's a Celibate Hero, so he leaves.

Showdown in Little Tokyo. After Kenner saves Minako from captivity and sexual abuse by the villain, she becomes attracted to him and cuddles up to him in his home for safety before they have sex.

Subverted in A Brother's Price: Jerin refuses to reward his rescuer with sex, as he's a married man. He reminds her that she promised to rescue him with his virtue intact when she tries to seduce him. Turns out his rescuer is actually one of his wives, so it would have been okay.

Subverted in Freedom's Landing, the first book of the Catteni series by Anne McCaffrey: when Kris rescues Zainal, he attempts to show his gratitude by having sex with her and is surprised when she refuses. They do end up together, though.

Freedom's Landing is an Adaptation Expansion of a short story called "The Thorns of Barevi" McCaffrey had written as a ... profit-seeking experiment with fantasy softcore. In that story's version of their Meet Cute, they did.

Brave New World recounts that the "feely" thriller Three Weeks in a Helicopter "ended happily and decorously, with the Beta blonde becoming the mistress of all her three rescuers." (This is to show the audience that she's properly promiscuous.)

In Larry Niven's A Gift From Earth, Matthew Keller rescues Polly, who grabs him to drag him off to have sex. However, it is pointed out that she was just desperate for feelings after being tortured by sensory deprivation.

In The Mists of Avalon, Gwenhwyfar has sex with Lancelet after he rescues her. It isn't the first time, but it's the first time without her husband's explicit approval.

A two-villains example in President's Vampire, when Helen, upon Konrad rescuing her by giving her the Elixir of Life, proceeds to strip herself and have oral sex with him, to his bemusement.

Konrad: It would be enough to say thanks.

Name checked in "Chaotic" in Dates From Hell. Hope and Karl know the bad guys are watching them, but they're pretending everything's normal. Karl suggests they go up to the bedroom, to Hope's confusion. He asks Hope what she thinks would naturally happen if he had defeated the bad guys, rescued the fair maiden, brought her home safe and sound...Hope says, "Oh! Rescue sex! But for proper rescue sex we wouldn't even make it up to the bedroom. We'd just stop right here in the hall..." They do go on to lure the bad guys into a trap, and no rescue sex is had.

Parodied (of course) in The Tough Guide To Fantasy Land, which describes how the hero will nobly refuse the offer of no-holds-barred, consequence-free sex with the slave girl, release her from her captors, and then - having proven himself to be The Good Guy - will have no-holds-barred, consequence-free sex with her before leaving her to make her own way home.

In the first episode, the eponymous protagonist saves a woman who then tells him the following: "I guess this is the part where you comfort me? Not like you didn't earn it." Needless to say, he doesn't go through with it.

Another episode features Connor—who grew up in Hell and can thus perhaps be excused for his poor social skills—getting upset when he rescues an apparent prostitute who won't offer him free sex afterwards and instead intends to charge him for it. But then later, when a conveniently immature Cordelia needs rescuing, she sort of implies...

Spike as Rachel: How can I thank you, you mysterious black-clad hunk of a night thing? Spike as Angel: No need, little lady, your tears of gratitude are enough for me. You see, I was once a badass vampire, but love and a pesky curse defanged me. And now I'm just a big, fluffy puppy with bad teeth. [Rachel tries to hug Angel, but he backs away]Spike as Angel: No, not the hair! Never the hair! Spike as Rachel: But there must be some way I can...show my appreciation? Spike as Angel: No, helping those in need's my job. And working up a load of sexual tension and prancing away like a magnificent poof is truly thanks enough. Spike as Rachel: I understand. I have a nephew who is gay, so...

Spoofed in the episode "Once More With Feeling" during Buffy's "Going Through The Motions" song.

Buffy: Will I stay this way forever. Sleep walk through my life's endeavour... [frees a hot guy who was tied up by demons]Sexy Open Shirt Bystander: How can I repay— Buffy:[walks away uninterested] Whatever...

Tyrion describes how he met his first wife: he and his brother saved her from rapists. Later subverted when it is revealed that she was a prostitute paid to simulate the rape so Tyrion could lose his virginity. Tyrion's current consort, Shae, immediately lampshades the ridiculousness of this trope, when she points out that no woman who was nearly raped would immediately jump in bed with anybody, and Tyrion was an idiot for assuming it was real.

Double subverted in the books: There isn't any female character pointing out how ridiculous this trope is, and eventually it is revealed that the girl really was no prostitute and the story she told him was true.note Though given that Tyrion was the son of the local lord, her readiness to put out right after such a traumatic experience and her very quick professions of love may be realistically explained with her grabbing her one chance at social climbing. Which makes Tyrion a rapist for participating in the gang rape of the girl that his father ordered to make Tyrion believe she was a protitute.note She was paid in the end, to make it look to Tyrion as if she was motivated by greed, but it's highly unlikely that she agreed to be gangbanged by all the guards if she was really just a random peasant girl who'd been a virgin until two weeks earlier. After finding out about all this, Tyrion doesn't really feel guilty for how he treated her but kind of goes over a Despair Event Horizon, and shortly later he callously uses a prostituted woman who he knows full well is enslaved by the brothel owner and doesn't want to have sex with him - all the while thinking she might as well be his first wife, who he was told went on to a life of prostitution.

Played straight when Gilly has sex with Samwell after he and Ghost save her from rapists.

In the season one finale of Farscape, Chiana, the resident Lovable Sex Maniac, propositions John to thank him for risking his life to save the rest of the crew. He gently turns her down and tells her to "pass it on" (ie, help someone else who needs it.) A later episode involving Time Travel reveals that Chiana was the girl John lost his virginity to.

In "R.A.M", Mr. Dillinger has sex with Haley, a POI whom he saves from hitmen. This serves as an Establishing Character Moment since seducing a POI is something the audience knows John Reese would never do.

Mr. Dillinger: You've had a very traumatic experience. You probably shouldn't be on your own right now. I don't know about you, Haley, but I could use a drink. [the next morning]Finch: The next time an attractive woman wants to thank you for saving her life, a simple "You're welcome" should suffice.

Hailey: So really, I don't know how to thank you. [Dean grins] Must you cheapen the moment? Dean:Yeah!

Used for Ship Tease when Castle (for once) gets to tease Beckett in "Always Buy Retail".

Beckett: You probably saved my life. Castle: Probably? I definitely saved your life. And you know what that means, don't you? It means you owe me. Beckett: Owe you what? Castle: Whatever... I... want. [starts slowly approaching Beckett, who has a dazed, slack-jawed expression on her face] And you know... exactly... what I want, don't you? You know what I really... really want you to do...? [he leans in to whisper in her ear]Castle: Never... ever... call me "kitten."[Castle backs off and walks away, looking incredibly smug and self-satisfied, leaving Beckett stunned for a few seconds... then she recovers, grins, and bites her lip]

Night Court. Ever-lecherous Dan Fielding saves the life of prudish Christine Sullivan and demands sex according to this tradition. Christine reluctantly agrees, but things get interrupted before they do it when a man tries to jump off a nearby balcony. Dan succeeds in Talking Down the Suicidal, which as Judge Stone points out, means he now has to sleep with Dan.

One clip on World's Dumbest... features a cheesy homemade porno in which a geeky guy saves a Hungarian girl from a ridiculously fake python and then offers to show her another "snake".

Mike Trainor: Spoiler alert: it's his penis!

Rome. After stabbing to death an assassin in front of her, legionary Titus Pullo claims that Cleopatra was wet at the sight of him. Maybe he was right because she does have enthusiastic sex with Pullo that night, albeit for political reasons — she wants to have a child with Julius Caesar, and is hedging her bets that she'll have one. Later Cleopatra plays up her submissiveness and gratitude to seduce Caesar. "You redeemed me from captivity. I am...your slave."

Theatre

Played Straight in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music. The lead romantic pair, Desiree and Fredrik, have a passionate love connection after twenty years apart, and Desiree posits that Fredrik "might be in need of rescue", only for Fredrik to bitterly reply that he cannot "flirt with rescue when one has no intention of being saved" during Desiree's equally bitter number, "Send in the Clowns".

Strongly hinted at in the song "Fie on Goodness" from Camelot, when a knight recounts the time he "beheaded a man who was beating his naked wife".

Knights of the Old Republic 1: If you play as a female, a man will offer "earthly pleasures" as a reward for rescuing him. You can't accept though.

In the classic video game Defender of the Crown, successfully rescuing a kidnapped maiden would result in a cutscene of her disrobing, then kissing the player's character before the camera fades to black.

Subverted in Resident Evil 4, where Ashley Graham's offer for Leon to do some "overtime" is met with stoic rejection.

If you persuade Dream Weaver Feynriel to confront and master his powers in Dragon Age II, you end up coming across a woman he saved from would-be rapists despite his body being on a different continent. She asks if you know where he is, as she wants to "thank him properly".

Invoked in Mark of the Assassin DLC if Anders is your love interest. As you escape a dungeon, he mentions he has detailed fantasies of you rescuing him from Templars about to perform the Rite of Tranquility. "And then it would be all about the best way to show my gratitude..." When Tallis points out that she's the one who unlocked the cell, one of his responses is that he could be grateful to her as well.

In Ride to Hell: Retribution, the player can rescue women from abusive men, and they immediately reward him with sex. And we do mean immediately, while the blood on the player character's fists is still warm.

In Legend Of The Red Dragon, the player can rescue kidnapped damsels: "'You've come for me!' shouts an overjoyed (and darn good looking) girl. You breathe a sigh of relief. This was the right place. The girl eyes you dreamily. 'I can never repay you, and I...' 'Oh but you can. Is that your bed?' you interrupt."

Leather Goddesses of Phobos has you saving a young aristocrat of the opposite gender from a kidnapper and tentacle monster (two separate entities, for clarity). If you're playing on the lowest Naughtiness rating, they lock the door behind them when they go into their cabin to recover from the experience. If you're not, they don't, and you can go after them; the explicitness of the resulting sex scene varies based on chosen Naughtiness rating.

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Visual Novels

In G-Senjou no Maouafter Kyousuke has his Big Damn Heroes moment saving Haru from Maou (who had her mere seconds away from complete suffocation) they head back to his apartment, reconcile from their fight at the start of the chapter, clean up, and get busy.

A YouTube video lampshaded the implications of this trope when Mario asked Peach for a bit more than a kiss.

Western Animation

Robot Chicken had a Zelda-themed parody of this. Link killed Ganondorf and starts talking to a rescued Zelda about all the dangers he faced, hinting that he wanted sex. Zelda tells him that she's been rescued a few times in the past, and the first guy, she fucked his brains out. She actually gets further turned off when Link reveals that it took him 50 hours to get to the end of the game, and gives him 8 rupees for his trouble.

Pam says to Cyril that Lana will have no choice but to sleep with Archer after the latter saves the former's life. This never actually happens, and it's likely that Pam was trying to tease Cyril, Lana's boyfriend.

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